Improved railroad-jack



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ALFRED D. FOX',` OIL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA. Letters Patent No. 71,598, dated December 3, 1867.

IMPROVBD RAILROAD-JACK.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY (IOIICERN:` l

Be it lirnown that I, ALFRED D. FOX, of Oil City, in the county of Venango, and State of Pennsylvania,

,Y have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Jacks, of which the following is a full, clear, and

exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which makes part of this specification, and which represents a view in perspectiveof my improved jack.

It is the object-of my invention to provide a cheap, portable, simple, and effective device `for lifting or straightening railway-trucks; and to this end the improvement herein claimed consists in providing the liftingscrew with aswivelled hook, which gra-eps the underside of the rail without obstructing the sight along thev rail, 'and mounting its nut on a tripod with pivoted arms, -so arranged that the jack can be adjusted to rest on uneven ground, as hereinafter more fully shown.

In the accompanying drawing, the lifting-screw A is shown as mounted in a nu't or box, B, supported upon three legs C, pivoted in sockets in projecting wings I on the nut. The en ds of the legs, it will be observed, project into their sockets, and are intended to turn in close'contact with the walls of the cavities, which thus receive part of the lifting strain, and relieve the journals or pivots ofthe legs from strain. Thelegsare formed with broad feet K, to prevent sinking into soft ground. YA hook, E, is attached to the lifting-screwby a swivel or link, D, which allows it both to oscillate Ior swing freely and tb turn axially.

In applying this jack, two of the legs may be placed outside of and parallel to thelral tohbe lifted. The third one may be held up until the hook is placed under the rail, when it may be rested on the ground inside the rail, that is, between the two rails. By inserting an ordinary handspike or crow-bar, F, such as all track' gangs use, in the hole in the top of the screw, and turning it in the proper direction, the rail and cross-ties are lifted to the required level, and then held there until the earth is rammed beneath them. As the vhooky grasps the bottom of the rail only, the workman can sight along the top of the rail while it is being lifted, and thus secure its proper adjustment. t is obvious that, by resting the feet on the cross-ties, and working the screw, 'the rail and spikes will be draw-n away from the ties.

' I am aware that a lifting-jack, having four legs rigidlyattached to the nut, and united at'their bottom in pairs, has been used, and therefore do not claim broadly a portable jack, mounted on legs, which straddle the rail; but having thus described the construction and operation of my improved jack, what I do claim thereinas new, and desire to secure'by Letters Patent, is 4 The combination, with the lifting-screw carrying the swivelling-hook` which grasps the rail from beneath,

of the nut or box mounted on the independent legs, when the several parts are constructed and arranged for jointoperaton, as and for the purpose described.`

n In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed myname.

' ALFRED D. FOX.

Witnesses:

EDM. F. BROWN, J. I. PEYToN. 

